Fri, Nov 01, 2002

: Storytelling

Author: Todd Stolenz

Director: Todd Stolenz

Another well-done glimpse into the world of ordinary bizarreness from the director of

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: I Spy

I’ve heard criticism of this film which I can’t figure out. I liked it a lot. It’s nothing serious, just a good fun romp. It has action and humor and the “team” of Owen Wilson and Eddie Murphy is great. It never takes itself too seriously, but just seriously enough to not descend into camp. It’s fun, and much better than the lame trailers make it seem. My favorite scene was the ending, where spies are betraying each other right and left, and spy Owen gets completely confused and can’t tell who’s good or who’s bad. Hilarious.

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: The Santa Clause 2

Most sequels start off great and end weakly; this one was the opposite. The first fifteen or twenty minutes are totally boring: nothing happens. It’s all exposition for us learning that Santa’s got to get married by Christmas or he’ll cease being Santa. But once we get that out of the way, things start to happen and the film gets good. A machine is used to create a duplicate Santa to stay at the North Pole and keep the elves making toys while the real Santa goes to help his son (who’s been put on the “Naughty” list) and find a wife. The robot Santa ends up taking over the North Pole and forcing all the elves to make lumps of coal instead of toys (since boys and girls deserve coal). Meanwhile, Santa starts the process of “desantification” — losing weight, his beard, and his magic. I liked that. The first film got a lot mileage out of Tim Allen physically becoming Santa, and this one cleverly does the reverse. Of course this is happening while he’s attempting to find himself a wife, creating comic situations. What’s impressive about this film is the way it really creates a believable romance in an extremely short period of time. Elizabeth Mitchell, who plays his love interest, is terrific and brings a nice dose of reality to the over-the-top stuff happening elsewhere. Overall, no huge suprises, but a pleasant and appealing film like the first one.

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